A blow-by-blow catch-up on how Trump vs. Anthropic has unfolded
A consequential week punctuated by war highlights the deep rifts that exist between Silicon Valley and Washington.
Last week’s tense standoff between Anthropic and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth focused on the issue of how the startup’s AI could be hypothetically used to surveil Americans or kill people. By the weekend, that hypothetical scenario became very real.
Tensions started after a tense meeting at the Pentagon, which resulted in Hegseth giving Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei an ultimatum: he had until Friday at 5:01 p.m. ET to get onboard with the Pentagon’s demands for full use of Claude for any legal purpose, or face the consequences. Here’s a quick timeline of how this fast-moving story unfolded:
Thursday 5:36 p.m. ET - Anthropic posted a statement from Amodei that the company will not acquiesce to Pentagon demands to allow the use of its Claude tool for any legal purpose.
Friday 3:47 p.m. ET - President Trump lashed out at the startup, calling it a “RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY,” and said he was directing all federal agencies to cease use of Anthropic’s software.
Friday 5:14 p.m. ET - In a post on X, Hegseth chided Anthropic’s refusal, and in an extraordinary move, said he would move to designate Anthropic “a Supply-Chain Risk to National Security,” effectively blacklisting the company’s tech from use by the US military or any contractors (like Palantir) working with the Pentagon on national security applications.
Friday 8:24 p.m. ET - In another blog post, Amodei defended Anthropic’s position and signaled that it may pursue legal action, calling the move “legally unsound.”
Friday 9:56 p.m. ET - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X that his company reached an agreement to deploy its models on the Pentagon’s classified network.
Saturday 1:15 a.m. ET - The American and Israeli attack on Iran commenced.
Saturday 8:21 p.m. ET - The Wall Street Journal reported that Anthropic’s Claude was used by the Pentagon to assess intelligence, identify targets, and simulate battle scenarios.
Sunday - Anthropic’s Claude app rose to the No. 1 spot on the iOS app store, dethroning ChatGPT.
The feud sent a chill through Silicon Valley, as companies wondered what control they would have going forward if the government decided it needed their tech.
